# Reconstructing editable prismatic CAD from rounded voxel models

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.01161 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.01161/

## Key facts

- Cited by 41 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 30 of its 54 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 2 Sep 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 30)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Occupancy Networks: Learning 3D Reconstruction in Function Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.03828/) (2018)
- [Pointer Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.03134/) (2015)
- [ABC: A Big CAD Model Dataset For Geometric Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.06216/) (2018)
- [An Intriguing Failing of Convolutional Neural Networks and the CoordConv Solution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.03247/) (2018)
- [DeepCAD: A Deep Generative Network for Computer-Aided Design Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.09492/) (2021)
- [PolyGen: An Autoregressive Generative Model of 3D Meshes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.10880/) (2020)
- [BSP-Net: Generating Compact Meshes via Binary Space Partitioning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.06971/) (2019)
- [CvxNet: Learnable Convex Decomposition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.05736/) (2019)
- [CSGNet: Neural Shape Parser for Constructive Solid Geometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.08290/) (2017)
- [ParSeNet: A Parametric Surface Fitting Network for 3D Point Clouds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.12181/) (2020)
- [Write, Execute, Assess: Program Synthesis with a REPL](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.04604/) (2019)
- [Supervised Fitting of Geometric Primitives to 3D Point Clouds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.08988/) (2018)
- [Computer-Aided Design as Language](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.02769/) (2021)
- [SolidGen: An Autoregressive Model for Direct B-rep Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.13944/) (2022)
- [UCSG-Net -- Unsupervised Discovering of Constructive Solid Geometry Tree](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.09102/) (2020)
- [SketchGraphs: A Large-Scale Dataset for Modeling Relational Geometry in Computer-Aided Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.08506/) (2020)
- [Learning to Infer and Execute 3D Shape Programs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.02875/) (2019)
- [SketchGen: Generating Constrained CAD Sketches](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.02711/) (2021)
- [PIE-NET: Parametric Inference of Point Cloud Edges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.04883/) (2020)
- [Vitruvion: A Generative Model of Parametric CAD Sketches](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.14124/) (2021)
- [CAPRI-Net: Learning Compact CAD Shapes with Adaptive Primitive Assembly](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.05652/) (2021)
- [Point2Cyl: Reverse Engineering 3D Objects from Point Clouds to Extrusion Cylinders](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.09329/) (2021)
- [Inferring CAD Modeling Sequences Using Zone Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.03900/) (2021)
- [Engineering Sketch Generation for Computer-Aided Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.09621/) (2021)
- [Joint Learning of 3D Shape Retrieval and Deformation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.07889/) (2021)
- [Fusion 360 Gallery: A Dataset and Environment for Programmatic CAD Construction from Human Design Sequences](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.02392/) (2020)
- [HPNet: Deep Primitive Segmentation Using Hybrid Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.10620/) (2021)
- [Deformation-Aware 3D Model Embedding and Retrieval](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.01228/) (2020)
- [ComplexGen: CAD Reconstruction by B-Rep Chain Complex Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.14573/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 41)

- [Hierarchical Neural Coding for Controllable CAD Model Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.00149/) (2023)
- [CAD-MLLM: Unifying Multimodality-Conditioned CAD Generation With MLLM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.04954/) (2024)
- [CAD-Llama: Leveraging Large Language Models for Computer-Aided Design Parametric 3D Model Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.04481/) (2025)
- [CAD-Recode: Reverse Engineering CAD Code from Point Clouds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.14042/) (2024)
- [SECAD-Net: Self-Supervised CAD Reconstruction by Learning Sketch-Extrude Operations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.10613/) (2023)
- [D2CSG: Unsupervised Learning of Compact CSG Trees with Dual Complements and Dropouts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.11497/) (2023)
- [Img2CAD: Reverse Engineering 3D CAD Models from Images through VLM-Assisted Conditional Factorization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.01437/) (2024)
- [HoLa: B-Rep Generation using a Holistic Latent Representation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.14257/) (2025)
- [TransCAD: A Hierarchical Transformer for CAD Sequence Inference from Point Clouds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.12702/) (2024)
- [CADDreamer: CAD Object Generation from Single-view Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.20732/) (2025)
- [Text2CAD: Generating Sequential CAD Models from Beginner-to-Expert Level Text Prompts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.17106/) (2024)
- [DTGBrepGen: A Novel B-rep Generative Model through Decoupling Topology and Geometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.13110/) (2025)
- [SHARP Challenge 2023: Solving CAD History and pArameters Recovery from Point clouds and 3D scans. Overview, Datasets, Metrics, and Baselines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.15966/) (2023)
- [Split-and-Fit: Learning B-Reps via Structure-Aware Voronoi Partitioning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.05261/) (2024)
- [AutoBrep: Autoregressive B-Rep Generation with Unified Topology and Geometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.03018/) (2025)
- [cadrille: Multi-modal CAD Reconstruction with Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.22914/) (2025)
- [Sketch-A-Shape: Zero-Shot Sketch-to-3D Shape Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.03869/) (2023)
- [Geometric Deep Learning for Computer-Aided Design: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.17695/) (2024)
- [BrepGPT: Autoregressive B-rep Generation with Voronoi Half-Patch](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.22171/) (2025)
- [Drawing2CAD: Sequence-to-Sequence Learning for CAD Generation from Vector Drawings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.18733/) (2025)
- [NeuroNURBS: Learning Efficient Surface Representations for 3D Solids](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.10848/) (2024)
- [DiffCSG: Differentiable CSG via Rasterization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.01421/) (2024)
- [CADReasoner: Iterative Program Editing for CAD Reverse Engineering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.29847/) (2026)
- [ContrastCAD: Contrastive Learning-based Representation Learning for Computer-Aided Design Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.01645/) (2024)
- [MiCADangelo: Fine-Grained Reconstruction of Constrained CAD Models from 3D Scans](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.23429/) (2025)
- [CADFit: Precise Mesh-to-CAD Program Generation with Hybrid Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.01171/) (2026)
- [A Review of Deep Learning-Powered Mesh Reconstruction Methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.02879/) (2023)
- [A Survey of Methods for Converting Unstructured Data to CSG Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.01220/) (2023)
- [MV2Cyl: Reconstructing 3D Extrusion Cylinders from Multi-View Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.10853/) (2024)
- [GIFT: Bootstrapping Image-to-CAD Program Synthesis via Geometric Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.27448/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Reverse Engineering a CAD shape from other representations is an important geometric processing step for many downstream applications. In this work, we introduce a novel neural network architecture to solve this challenging task and approximate a smoothed signed distance function with an editable, constrained, prismatic CAD model. During training, our method reconstructs the input geometry in the voxel space by decomposing the shape into a series of 2D profile images and 1D envelope functions. These can then be recombined in a differentiable way allowing a geometric loss function to be defined. During inference, we obtain the CAD data by first searching a database of 2D constrained sketches to find curves which approximate the profile images, then extrude them and use Boolean operations to build the final CAD model. Our method approximates the target shape more closely than other methods and outputs highly editable constrained parametric sketches which are compatible with existing CAD software.